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Academics

Our Field Naturalist course shows how active learning works at Hampshire. It is taught outdoors in varied field sites. Readings are from field guides rather than textbooks. A sense of adventure is required.

Personalized

You and your professors will work together to design your own program of study. You won't choose a major the way you might buy a product. Rather, you'll build a concentration out of your interests and intellectual curiosity.

Integrative

Here, you'll learn to connect ideas. That's why our curriculum is organized into broad, multidisciplinary schools rather than narrow academic departments. It's also why you'll be involved in different kinds of learning, from courses to study abroad to internships. And why life outside of class blends with life in class.

Active

We love ideas, and even more, we love to put them into action. At Hampshire, you'll discuss, write, and collaborate on projects. You'll make things, and you'll make things happen.

Our Divisional System

Hampshire is unique among colleges for its divisional academic system, which is designed specifically to support students in pursuing a personalized, integrative, and active program of study.

Interdisciplinary Schools

To encourage a truly personalized education, Hampshire has replaced single-subject departments with five interdisciplinary schools. This flexible structure permits you a greater richness and variety of academic activity.

Advanced Independent Work

A Hampshire education is not complete until you demonstrate the ability to use your knowledge in successively more sophisticated independent projects of your own design. These projects follow a graduate thesis model, with students expected to complete original work of a high standard, with assistance from their faculty mentors.

In addition to the distribution requirements, you must include volunteer service to Hampshire or the surrounding community as part of your Hampshire education and, in Division III, are asked to look beyond the specific focus of your work by integrating your scholarship into the larger academic life of the college.

The faculty also expect all students to consider some aspect of their Hampshire work from a non-Western perspective.

Becoming a Field Naturalist

Our Field Naturalist course shows how active learning works at Hampshire. It is taught outdoors in varied field sites. Readings are from field guides rather than textbooks. A sense of adventure is required.